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As Hollywood’s one of the most versatile actors recently turned 70, it is time to consider more than the roles J.K. Simmons is best known for, like J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man or the terrifying music teacher in Whiplash. Simmons now has more than 200 films and TV appearances to his credit, building a career of supporting character work combined with memorable scenes.

J.K. Simmons in Whiplash | Credit: Sony Pictures/Universal Pictures International

Not only with his big win at the Oscars but also over the years, he has shown how he can steal any scene with his screen presence. However, under the familiar top hits, there are a number of underappreciated films that need to be appreciated more.

10. The Front Runner (2018)

In this political drama, J.K. Simmons left a strong impact portraying Bill Dixon, Gary Hart’s campaign manager. His performance brought layers to a story of media,...

Jonathan Kimble Simmons, aka J.K. Simmons, is the Academy Award-winning actor who first came to fame as a song-and-dance man on Broadway. He then segued to a celebrated career in television and finally began an illustrious film career that has endured for 30+ years.

Simmons was a long-time theater actor — he had a memorable turn on the 1992 Tony broadcast in a striped purple suit raising his jazz hands in a number from “Guys and Dolls” — until he made his way to television and stunned audiences as white supremacist inmate Vern Schillinger in the HBO series “Oz.” Hollywood then came calling, making a big splash in the “Spider-Man” films and capping it off by winning the Oscar, the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Award for his chilling performance as a music teacher in “Whiplash.” He has since gone on to join the DC and Marvel universes.

Let’s raise a...

Costume designer Danny Glicker goes way back with director Jason Reitman, so much so that Glicker says he considers the filmmaker part of his “creative family.” Glicker first worked with Reitman on the director’s debut feature, “Thank You For Smoking,” and also served as the costume designer on later features like “Up in the Air,” “Labor Day,” “The Front Runner,” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” So the costume designer, an Oscar nominee for “Milk,” perhaps knows best where the new film “Saturday Night” stands within Reitman’s acclaimed filmography.

“This movie felt really special, and I think one of the reasons it felt special is having worked with Jason so long, I kind of could feel the pieces of our previous projects and the lessons that we’ve learned being applied here,” Glicker tells Gold Derby. “From the second he told me this movie was a go to the second I...

Netflix has acquired the spec script and aims to fast track Out There, a new high concept sci-fi thriller described as in the vein of A Quiet Place and Cloverfield, Deadline reports today.

Out There will mark the veteran editor Stefan Grube.

Plot details remain under wraps at this time, but the sci-fi thriller “revolves around a fractured family who must face the most catastrophic day of their lives.” Which does fall in line with the comparisons to A Quiet Place and Cloverfield. Considering Grube’s work on the suspenseful 10 Cloverfield Lane, we can likely expect that same level of breathless tension here.

Grube’s credits also include Tully, The Front Runner, and Star Wars: Episode IX. As for the spec script that was picked up by Netflix, that hails from Shane Van Dyke, Carey Van Dyke and Ian Levy. The Van Dykes previously wrote Don’t Worry Darling, and Levy scripted Pay the Ghost.

Exclusive: Netflix has acquired the spec script Out There, a high-concept sci-fi thriller in the vein of A Quite Place and Cloverfield. Netflix intends to make this one for a price, and it will mark the directorial debut of Stefan Grube, the veteran film editor. Script is by Shane Van Dyke, Carey Van Dyke and Ian Levy. The Van Dykes’ credits include Don’t Worry Darling and Levy produced Pay the Ghost.

The Picture Company partners Alex Heineman & Andrew Rona will produce along with Josie Liang of Space Bandit. Nick Meyer of Sierra Pictures will serve as executive producer.

Grube hails from the world of post-production, having collaborated with directors Dan Trachtenberg, Jason Reitman and JJ Abrams. His editing credits include films such as 10 Cloverfield Lane, Tully, The Front Runner, and Star Wars: Episode IX. He has also crafted some of the better trailers of the past decade.

The logline is currently under wraps,...

As Saturday Night Live embarks upon its milestone 50th season, Saturday Night arrives to complete the show’s journey, despite the film’s lack of authorial stamp from Broadway Video, NBC, or even Universal Pictures. With the appearance of a reverent, mythmaking de facto biopic, covering the momentous 90 minutes leading...

The Hulu half-hour comedy series Chad Powers has added Clayne Crawford (The Finestkind), Xavier Mills (Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire), Colton Ryan (Poker Face) and Toby Huss (Fatal Attraction) to its recurring cast.

They join previously announced series regulars Glen Powell as Russ Holliday/Chad Powers, Perry Mattfeld as Ricky, Quentin Plair as Coach Byrd, Wynn Everett as Tricia, Frankie A. Rodriguez as Danny and Steve Zahn as Jake Hudson.

In the series, when bad behavior nukes hotshot Qb Russ Holliday’s college career, he disguises himself and walks onto a struggling Southern football team as the talented, affable Chad Powers.

Chad Powers is based on an Eli Manning sketch that aired on ESPN+. Glenn Powell and Michael Waldron co-created the series, co-wrote the pilot and executive produce for Barnstorm Productions and Anomaly Pictures, respectively. Adam Fasullo also EPs for Anomaly Pictures. Eli Manning executive produces along with Omaha Productions’ Peyton Manning,...

Update: Following the critical acclaim for Jason Reitman’s SNL origins pic, Saturday Night, coming out of its Telluride release, Sony is changing up the release pattern of the ensemble pic to a platform roll-out. The movie will go exclusive on Sept 27 in LA, NYC and Toronto, then limited on Oct. 4 before breaking wide on Oct. 11.

Saturday Night will have its international premiere up here at TIFF on Tuesday, Sept. 10. The pic is already 85% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes

Deadline’s Awards Editor and Chief Film Critic Pete Hammond declared that Reitman “nailed it” in casting the 80-speaking role movie with the likes of Gabriel Labelle as SNL producer as Lorne Michaels, Dyan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Willem Dafoe as NBC exec David Tebet, Cory Michael Smith’s “spot-on Chevy Chase”; Lamorne Morris’s Garrett Morris, Matt Wood’s John Belushi and Succession‘s Nicholas Braun doing double duty as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman.

When a studio world premieres a movie at Telluride to tee off its chances during awards season, they have to make sure they’ve got the goods, and Sony certainly did coming away from its launch of Jason Reitman’s all-star Saturday Night about the 90-minute agita experienced by SNL producer Lorne Michaels before the show’s first broadcast in the fall of 1975.

Reitman is a true auteur in the sense of the word, a filmmaker who has done it his way. Saturday Night for one is shot in 16Mm, cinema verité style with shots careening through network hallways and backstage curtains. While Reitman is esteemed for such Oscar winners as Juno (which also doubled as a $143.3M grossing movie) and Up in the Air which notched six Oscar noms, he’s also had his fair share of niche misfires,...

Exclusive: Josh Brener (Saturday Night) has been tapped to star opposite Harvey Guillén in That Friend, the indie comedy marking the feature debut of writer-directors Will Sterling and Alex Wall.

He comes to the project after starring alongside Guillén in The Internship, 20th Century Fox’s 2013 comedy toplined by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

Slated for production in December, That Friend centers on Paul (Guillén), that one friend we all have whose invitation for “one drink” seems harmless but the next thing you know, you’re drunk on a Tuesday, swaying in your kitchen eating dry top ramen out of the bag and wishing you hadn’t just sent that text. Brener’s character Henry is just trying to have a romantic weekend in Palm Springs with his new girlfriend Penny until Paul crashes their trip. And when Paul’s pack of drug-laced cigarettes disappear into the hands of a stranger,...

Hugh Jackman’s Last 5 Films At The Worldwide Box Office. (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Hugh Jackman is one of the prominent Hollywood names, especially because of his portrayal of Wolverine. He will be back in that role for the upcoming MCU movie Deadpool & Wolverine, which is expected to be one of the top-grossers of 2024. But ahead of its release, let us take a quick look at Hugh’s last five films at the worldwide box office.

As a leading man, Hugh has reportedly appeared in about twenty-nine movies. He has been featured as Logan in seven films, excluding his cameos in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Apocalypse. Three of them are his stand-alone movies, and he retired from the role in 2017 with Logan. Besides the X-Men movies, he has also appeared in other critically acclaimed films, such as Les Miserables.

His movie, The Greatest Showman, was also praised for its performances,...

Exclusive: Paradigm has signed actor, writer and producer Steve Zissis (Togetherness) for representation in all areas.

Best known for co-creating, writing and starring on HBO’s acclaimed comedy-drama Togetherness, Zissis collaborated with the Duplass Brothers on that series, as well as their films The Do-Deca Pentathlon, Jeff, Who Lives at Home, Cyrus and Baghead.

On the film side, he’s recently appeared in Bliss opposite Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek and Bad Hair from writer-director Justin Simien. Other notable credits include the Universal horror pic Happy Death Day 2 U, Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner opposite Hugh Jackman, Another Evil, and Spike Jonze’s Her.

In television, Zissis has been seen in the Golden Globe-nominated The Comey Rule (Showtime) as well as The Guest Book (TBS), I’m Sorry (TruTV), Single Parents (ABC), The League (FX), Arrested Development (Netflix), Parks and Recreation (NBC) and The Office (NBC).

Currently, Zissis...

Mamoudou Athie can practically taste the lobster rolls from the Carlton hotel. He smiles wistfully as he taps into that sense memory of his first trip to the Cannes Film Festival. In 2023, Athie voiced the lead role in Disney-Pixar’s “Elemental,” which closed the fest. And he’s returning this week as part of the first-rate ensemble of Yorgos Lanthimos’ offbeat movie “Kinds of Kindness.”

Discussion of the crustacean-filled dish might seem irrelevant, but it’s perhaps not incidental. Athie begins our conversation by revealing that his first encounter with Lanthimos’ unique sensibilities was 2015’s “The Lobster.” The Mauritanian American actor, who was studying at Yale School of Drama at the time, was captivated by the originality of the material and the conviction the filmmaker brought to his craft.

“I love something that feels fresh and innovative and risky,” Athie says, sitting down with Variety in late April and eagerly...

Exclusive: Chris Coy (Lawmen: Bass Reeves) has been tapped for a series regular role on Netflix’s drama Black Rabbit, as well as a supporting role in David Robert Mitchell’s Warner Bros film Flowervale Street.

In the former project, Coy will play Babbitt, a low-level bookie. Details as to his Flowervale part and the film’s plot remain under wraps.

Starring Jason Bateman and Jude Law, Black Rabbit is a limited series centering on some serious sibling drama: When the owner of a New York City hotspot (Law) allows his turbulent brother (Bateman) back in his life, he opens the door to escalating dangers that threaten to bring down everything he’s built. As previously announced, Cleopatra Coleman, Amaka Okafor, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Dagmara Dominczyk will also star in the one-hour drama created and written by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman, which is based on an original idea.

In...

Exclusive: The Daniel Hoff Agency has hired former Kmr agent, Kate Lackey, in the firm’s Atlanta office.

Lackey’s client base includes many notable film and TV actors in the Atlanta area, and her addition gives Daniel Hoff a big footprint in the South.

Lackey’s clients include Challen Cates, Carlease Burke. Brette Taylor, Wes Robinson (Blair Witch), Christina Wren, Ashley Leconte Campbell, and Evan Castelloe.

Lackey joins Atlanta-based agents Marta Parrillo and Renee Banks in the office, which opened in September 2022.

“Through her taste, relationships, and personal commitment and care, Kate is one of the top agents in the region,...

Hollywood stars are known for their grace and composure, but even under the bright lights, celebrities are human after all. In one such experience, Anne Hathaway shed some light on a surprising moment with her co-star Hugh Jackman.

Anne Hathaway || Les Miserables

Suggested“The biggest robberies I’ve seen in a long time”: Fans Still Have Not Forgiven Oscars For Ignoring Hugh Jackman’s Performance in Denis Villeneuve’s Movie

The two stars worked together in 2012’s “Les Miserables”, a musical drama based on the classic novel by Victor Hugo. Known for his friendliness and professionalism, even Jackman once lost his cool while shooting the movie.

Hugh Jackman Gave a “Thousand-Mile” Stare To Anne Hathaway While Shooting Les Miserables

Hugh Jackman || Les Miserables

During the 2018 Hollywood Film Award ceremony, Hugh Jackman won the award for Best Actor for The Front Runner. He was presented the award by Anne Hathaway,...

Exclusive: Nicholas Braun, Tommy Dewey and Nicholas Podany have joined the cast of Sony Pictures’ SNL 1975, which will be directed by Jason Reitman and based on the real-life behind-the-scenes accounts of the opening episode of Saturday Night Live.

Braun will play Jim Henson, Dewey will play Michael O’Donoghue, and Podany will play Billy Crystal. The original screenplay is by Reitman and Gil Kenan.

On October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. SNL 1975 is the true story of what happened behind the scenes that night in the moments leading up to the first broadcast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. It depicts the chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, counting down the minutes in real time to the infamous words, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

The screenplay is based on an extensive series of interviews conducted by...

Exclusive: Actor, producer and writer Tommy Dewey has signed with Anonymous Content in all areas.

Most recently, Dewey starred in and executive-produced Caroline Lindy’s romantic comedy-horror feature, Your Monster, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Dewey stars in the film as ‘Monster’ opposite Melissa Barrera.

Additional film credits include Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner, opposite Hugh Jackman, Marc Carlini’s indie dramedy She’s In Portland, and Paramount hit Book Club.

Dewey is best known for his co-lead role on Hulu’s Golden Globe-nominated original series Casual opposite Michaela Watkins. His additional TV credits include the Fox comedy series Pivoting, HBO’s Perry Mason, and his recurring role on The Mindy Project.

He continues to be represented by The Kohner Agency and Myman Greenspan, et al.

Oscar-nominated sound mixer Steve Morrow has recorded quite a few party scenes in his career, in movies such as “Don’t Worry Darling,” “The Prom” and “Babylon.”

When it came to Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Morrow had to figure out how to capture the sound in a prominent party scene that takes place at the Bernstein family apartment in the Dakota Building in New York. It’s a key moment that transitions the film from black and white to 1970s color, anchored by Carey Mulligan’s Felicia smoking a cigarette, staring out the window at Central Park while a bustling party surrounds her.

Morrow knew how the film would transition visually, but his team was tasked with capturing sound from both Felicia’s and Lenny’s (Cooper) circles. “We filmed it at the same time,” explains Morrow. “I’m listening to both parties happening and trying to understand who’s saying what and when.

One of Westwood’s historic movie theaters will soon have new ownership.

Filmmaker Jason Reitman is leading an unnamed group of investors in purchasing the art deco Fox Village Theater, located at 945 Broxton Ave. The news, first reported by The Ankler’s Peter Kiefer, was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter. Per the initial report, Reitman and crew are “weeks away” from taking over the property in a deal that is currently in escrow.

Last summer, reports surfaced that the landmarked Fox Village was up for grabs for a $12 million sum, listed by Newmark’s Capital Markets group, which promoted the theater as an “iconic property” and “one of the most identifiable, landmark properties in Los Angeles.” The listing also stated that the 24,099-square-foot building, which houses 1,375 seats inside the theater, had not previously been up for sale.

Westwood was once home to a lively theatrical scene, thanks to the Fox Village,...

Exclusive: Ari Graynor (Winning Time) has joined Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the second installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s true-crime anthology series for Netflix.

Graynor will play Leslie Abramson, one of the most prominent Los Angeles defense attorneys in the 1980s and 90s who became lead counsel for Erik Menendez.

On Monsters, Graynor joins Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch, who play Lyle and Erik, respectively, as well as Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny, who portray their parents. Nathan Lane also stars as Dominick Dunne.

Murphy and Brennan executive produce with Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, David McMillan, Louise Shore and Carl Franklin.

It was in 1989 that Lyle and Erik Menendez murdered parents Jose and Kitty in their L.A.-area home. Although not initially looked at as prime suspects, they came under investigation in the months following and eventually confessed to parricide, at the same...

Exclusive: Ari Graynor has joined the Season 2 cast of Adam McKay’s Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty in a major recurring role.

Winning Time is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. McKay’s Hyperobject Industries is producing.

Co-created by Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht, the fast-break series chronicles the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — a team that defined its era both on and off the court.

Graynor will play Honey, a fictional character inspired by the former girlfriends and wives of Dr Jerry Buss. Honey is described as having left the fast lane of the Los Angeles party scene to run an art school in the valley. Dr. Buss played by John C. Reilly, in pursuit of a real love connection, reaches out...

Exclusive: Raúl Castillo (The Inspection), Tony Cavalero (The Righteous Gemstones), Melonie Diaz (The First Purge) and Josh Brener (Silicon Valley) are set to topline Cold Wallet — a crypto-heist thriller from director Cutter Hodierne (Fishing Without Nets), which has wrapped production.

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The film inspired by real stories, which was in production when news of the Ftx scandal broke, follows a rag-tag team of Redditors who lose everything in a crypto ponzi scheme and plot to kidnap the ‘financial influencer’ who screwed them over. Script was written by John Hibey — the...

Exclusive: Golden Globe and 2x Emmy nominee Alfred Molina (Spider-Man: No Way Home) has joined the indie dramedy When We Get There, marking the feature debut of writer-director Ryan Patrick Welsh. 2x Emmy nom Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers franchise) and William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) are also set, with newcomers Chris Heeder, Jamie Lien and Alek Kristopher rounding out the cast.

Co-directed by Justin Giddings, When We Get There tells the story of brothers Cal (Heeder) and Ty (Kristopher), who embark on a cross-country trek to meet the father they’ve never known, and the only family they have left. Along with Cal’s long-term girlfriend Ellie (Lien) and a new guitar named Stevie, the trio are forced to navigate uncertain futures on a 2000-mile journey in a car on its last leg. Along the way they discover what, and who, it’s worth showing up for.

Molina portrays...

Exclusive: Sugar23 has signed Emmy-nominated actor Mamoudou Athie.

Athie recently wrapped Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film And for Searchlight Pictures alongside Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, and Joe Alwyn, as well as Maggie Betts’ The Burial for Amazon Studios alongside Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones. This summer, he also voices the co-lead of Pixar’s animated feature Elemental, in theaters this June.

Best known for roles in Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner and Sorry For Your Loss, Athie was most recently seen alongside Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in Universal Pictures’ and Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion, which brought in a billion at the global box-office.

He also starred as the lead in the James Wan produced Netflix series Archive 81, which garnered great critical reception and premiered #1 on Netflix.

Athie was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Actor in A...

Exclusive: Cazzie David (The Umbrella Academy), Jon Rudnitsky (SNL), Karan Soni (Deadpool franchise), Oliver Cooper (Red Oaks), Taylor Hill (Babylon) and Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) will lead the heist comedy Stealing Pulp Fiction, marking the feature debut of writer-director Danny Turkiewicz, which has wrapped production in Los Angeles.

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Billed as a love letter to the classic Quentin Tarantino pic and the history of cinema as a whole, the film is based on Turkiewicz’ short of the same name, which he wrote and directed at the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020. It follows friends Jonathan (Rudnitsky), Elizabeth (David) and...

Accused returns with another new story on Fox tonight, Feb. 21. Episode 5, “Robyn’s Story,” follows a “shy and mild-mannered” man named Kevin who moonlights as a fierce drag queen named Robyn at night. When Kevin falls for a closeted man living a double life, their affair leads to “devastating consequences.” So, who is in the cast of Accused Episode 5? Here’s a breakdown of the stars and where you’ve seen them before. Plus, learn more about Billy Porter directing the episode.

‘Accused’ Episode 5 cast member J. Harrison Ghee as Robyn | Elly Dassas/Fox J. Harrison Ghee as Kevin/Robyn

J. Harrison Ghee stars in Accused Episode 5 as Kevin/Robyn. By day, Kevin is a shy Esl teacher, but at night, they transform into the confident and charismatic Robyn. Kevin’s whirlwind romance will lead to their arrest, but will they be found innocent or guilty?

Ghee previously appeared in...

Exclusive: Mark O’Brien (Your Honor) will exec produce and star in the coming-of-age drama Topper from 1A Motion Pictures and Bad Lad Productions, which has wrapped production in Detroit. Others set for major roles include Paul Johansson (God Is a Bullet), Amanda Clayton (City on a Hill), and actor-comedians Jimmy Shubert (Entourage), Bryan Callen (Warrior) and Erik Griffin (Workaholics).

The first feature written and directed by actor Kevin McNamara (Why Women Kill) follows Topper (O’Brien), a hard-drinking middling comedian with a seemingly endless capacity for self-sabotage. Topper receives news that his estranged father (Johansson) is terminally ill and begrudgingly returns to Detroit to sell the family home, which was never much of a home to him.

While back in Detroit, the friends he left behind — Lucas (Callen), Cooper (Griffin) and Ray (Shubert) — aren’t shy about pointing out how far he has drifted off course, despite showing early promise as a young comic.

Exclusive: Anonymous Content has hired former Bron executive David Davoli as President of International, based in New York.

Davoli will oversee the company’s international division including its various global joint ventures — Anonymous/Federation, AC Nordic, AC Brazil and Chapter One in the UK. He will be tasked with continuing to build out the international expansion.

He starts in the new role in early September and will be a member of the senior leadership team, reporting to Anonymous Content CEO Dawn Olmstead.

Most recently, Davoli was President of Television at Bron Studios, where he oversaw development, production, co-productions, financing and sales, and was the key dealmaker across all TV efforts. Among the projects he worked on were the AMC+/RTÉ Irish family crime drama Kin, starring Charlie Cox and Aidan Gillen; Ten Percent, the English-language remake to the hit French series, Call My Agent!, which aired on Amazon Prime in the UK,...

Los Angeles-based entertainment law film Donaldson Callif Perez has promoted associate Katy Alimohammadi Crown to partner.

Crown specializes in representing filmmakers in all stages of their projects, including production legal services, rights clearance and distribution. She has established herself as a leading production and clearance attorney, serving as counsel on documentary series such as HBO’s “Music Box,” “The Last Dance,” “Tiger King” and “Random Acts of Flyness.” She has also worked as clearance counsel on scripted projects such as “Bombshell,” “The Front Runner,” “Zola” and “Leave No Trace,” as well as documentaries including “Operation Varsity Blues,” “Circus of Books,” “Shirkers” and the Oscar-nominated films “The Mole Agent” and “Crip Camp.”

“Katy has been a strong voice at our firm from the first day she arrived. Her love for film and books influences all her work in support of the creative community,” said Michael Donaldson.

Crown has been with Donaldson...

Exclusive: Comedian and actor Bill Burr (F Is for Family) is writing, directing and starring alongside Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire) and Emmy nominee Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo) in the original comedy Old Dads, which Miramax has come aboard to produce in conjunction with Burr’s All Things Comedy.

Burr’s feature directorial debut centers on a middle-aged father (Burr) and his two best friends (Cannavale and Woodbine) who after selling their company to a millennial, find themselves out of step and behind the times as they hilariously struggle to navigate a changing world of culture, career and fatherhood. Burr and Ben Tishler penned the script and are producing with Bill Block, Monica Levinson and Mike Bertolina. Production kicked off in Los Angeles yesterday.

“I’m very excited to start shooting Old Dads,” said Burr. “This comedy is based on my own and my co-writer,...

HBO announced today that Academy Award winner Barry Levinson’s latest film, The Survivor, starring Ben Foster, will premiere on the premium cabler on April 27 at 8 p.m. Et/Pt, in honor of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)—subsequently becoming available for streaming on HBO Max.

The HBO Original is based on Alan Haft’s book, Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano. It tells the incredible true story of Haft (Foster), who after being sent to Auschwitz, survived not only the unspeakable horrors of the camp, but the gladiatorial boxing spectacle he was forced to perform with his fellow prisoners for the amusement of his captors. Unbeknownst to those who try to destroy him, Haft’s will to survive is driven by his quest to reunite with the woman he loves.

Levinson previously directed the HBO films Paterno, The Wizard of Lies and You Don’t Know Jack,...

Exclusive: Black Box actor Mamoudou Athie is reteaming with Amazon Studios for their feature The Burial, based on the New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr.

Athie will star alongside Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jurnee Smollett, with Maggie Betts directing from a script written by Doug Wright.

Based on a true story, The Burial follows a bankrupt funeral home owner, who decides to sue a rival businessman over a handshake deal gone wrong. The owner hires a flamboyant attorney to handle the case.

Producers include Bobby Shriver via his Bobby Shriver Inc. label, Double Nickel Entertainment’s Adam Richman and Jenette Kahn, Foxx and producing partner Datari Turner, and Maven Pictures’ Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray.

Athie was nominated for an Emmy last year in the Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category for Fxx’s Oh Jerome, No, which he also executive produced. He...

Exclusive: Days before the world premiere of Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne’s feature directorial debut Am I Ok? at Sundance, Deadline has learned about the duo’s next feature project is Time and Space, which Judd Apatow will produce through his Apatow Productions.

Allynne will direct off a screenplay she wrote based on a story she conceived with her spouse Notaro. Emmy nominee and stand-up comic Notaro also will star in the project, which follows the life of a lesbian couple who are thrown into turmoil when they ditch their Los Angeles city life for upstate New York. Notaro and Allynne will produce through their production company, Something Fierce.

Time and Space reflects Notaro and Allynne’s interest in sophisticated, entertaining storytelling with universal appeal where there just happens to be gay characters and themes.

The duo conceived Time and Space during the pandemic, though the movie is not set during one.

Exclusive: Actor and filmmaker Mark O’Brien is set to star in season 2 of HBO’s Perry Mason in the recurring guest star role of Thomas Milligan.

Thomas is Los Angeles’ ambitious Deputy District Attorney. He’s described as an aggressive attack dog in court as he strives to make his mark and ascend to greater heights, no matter whose blood he has to spill to get there. Season 2 will be eight episodes long with Matthew Rhys returning to the title role in the Emmy-nominated series.

Season 2 of Perry Mason takes place months after the end of the Dodson trial. Perry (Rhys) has moved off the farm, ditched the milk truck, he’s even traded his leather jacket for a pressed suit. It’s the worst year of the Depression, and Perry and Della (Juliet Rylance) have set the firm on a safer path pursuing civil cases instead of the tumultuous work criminal cases entail.

Fresh off the box office success of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” Sony Pictures Entertainment has signed an overall producing deal with Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, the team behind the paranormal reboot.

The movie has grossed $115.8 million globally since it opened two weeks ago and helped find a fresh way into a franchise that first launched in 1984. A previous attempt to revive the series in 2016, which found Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones donning proton packs, failed to turn a profit because it cost $144 million to produce. “Afterlife” was made more economically, carrying a $75 million budget.

“Jason is the thing you dream about: a world-class, signature storyteller, visionary filmmaker, and dream producing partner,” said Sanford Panitch, president of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. “Jason and Gil as co-writing partners have a remarkable understanding of commercial quality cinema, and we are thrilled about the upcoming pipeline from these guys.”

“We...

Exclusive: Cavalry Audio, the podcast arm of Keegan Rosenberger, Dana Brunetti and partner Matt DelPiano’s company, is moving into scripted podcasts with ten-part suspense thriller Verdict.

Spencer Garrett, who played Bob Woodward in Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner and featured in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and Amazon’s Bosch, is to lead the ensemble cast of the audio series.

Verdict, which will launch on October 19 via the iHeartPodcast Network, centers on a federal investigator who must unravel the mystery behind a murder in a small town.

It tells the story of a murdered high school football star and the Federal Investigator who is brought in to potentially save an innocent man’s life. When the victim’s best friend confesses to the brutal crime that could land him on death row, Investigator Abigail Kaplan must navigate small-town politics, the awesome power of the local Mega Church...

Following its world premiere at Toronto, HBO Films has taken exclusive North American rights to Barry Levinson’s The Survivor about Holocaust survivor and U.S. boxer Harry Haft. Ben Foster plays Haft in the movie, which marks a reteam with his Liberty Heights writer-director Levinson. Deal was 8-figures, making it the biggest one in a subdued Toronto marketplace.

After being sent to Auschwitz, Haft survived not only the unspeakable horrors of the camp but the gladiatorial boxing spectacle he was forced to perform with his fellow prisoners for the amusement of his captors. Unbeknownst to those who try to destroy him, Haft is driven by the most important reason any man has to survive: a quest to reunite with the woman he loves. After a daring escape, he makes his way to New York, where he succeeds in using his boxing skills to establish a name for himself in...

Deborah McIntosh and Alex Walton will lead WME Independent, a new division of WME that will handle domestic and international film sales and film financing consulting services. Both were most recently at Endeavor Content, which WME’s parent company Endeavor Holdings is selling a majority stake in as part of a settlement agreement with the Writers Guild of America that limits major agencies’ ability to package material.

The new group will bring film sales and film financing consulting services back inside the agency and will offer both domestic and international film sales services.

“WME Independent will serve as a critical vehicle to fuel our clients’ projects while providing the global perspective necessary to navigate today’s content marketplace,” said Dan Limerick, WME’s chief operating officer, in a statement. “Deb, Alex and their team have an undeniable track record of bringing many successful artist-driven projects to fruition, and we look...

WME on Monday launched WME Independent, a division to broker domestic and international film sales and film financing consulting services. It will be headed by Deborah McIntosh and Alex Walton, both of whom were most recently at Endeavor Content.

Those deals had for years been steered under Endeavor Content, but that entity is in the process of being sold off as a freestanding production entity. McIntosh and Walton will bring film sales and film financing consulting services back inside the agency and will differentiate itself in the marketplace by offering domestic and international film sales services.

“WME Independent will serve as a critical vehicle to fuel our clients’ projects while providing the global perspective necessary to navigate today’s content marketplace,” WME chief operating officer Dan Limerick said. “Deb, Alex and their team have an undeniable track record of bringing many successful artist-driven projects to fruition, and we look forward...

Initiating one of Amazon’s most ambitious titles ever in Latin America, production has begun on “La cabeza de Joaquín Murrieta,” the region’s first Western Amazon Original series, Amazon Prime Video announced Tuesday.

An “action-packed” series made in Mexico, it added, “La cabeza de Joaquín Murrieta” stars top Mexican actor Juan Manuel Bernal and Alejandro Speitzer, a fast-rising star after prominent roles in Mexican hits in “Dark Desire” and “Someone Has to Die.”

Backed by a powerful creative combo, the Amazon Original series is produced by Dynamo, who handled the physical production of “Narcos” in Colombia and produced Amazon’s “Falco” and Netflix’s first-anounced Colombian Original series, “Green Frontier.”

The series is created by Dynamo’s Diego Ramírez Schrempp and Fidelio’s Mauricio Leiva-Cock.

Series episodes will be directed by Humberto Hinojosa Ozcariz and David Pablos, fresh of his success with “Dance of the 41,” and director of “The Chosen Ones,...

Exclusive: Louis Herthum (Westworld), Chris Coy (The Deuce), Melinda Page Hamilton (Messiah), Katie Leung (Annika) and Austin Rising (Alt) are set as series regulars on The Peripheral, Amazon’s upcoming original series from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Kilter Films. Chloë Grace Moretz and Jack Reynor star in the sci-fi thriller drama, based on the bestselling novel by William Gibson.

Created by Scott B. Smith, The Peripheral is described as a dazzling, hallucinatory glimpse into the fate of mankind — and what lies beyond.

The book centers on Flynne (Moretz) and her brother Burton (Reynor). In the novel, Burton, a veteran of the Marine Corps’ elite Haptic Recon force, is hired for a security job that takes place in what he thinks is cyberspace. When Flynne temporarily takes his place, she witnesses something that might have been murder.

Herthum will play Corbell Pickett, Coy will portray Jasper, Hamilton is Ella,...

Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired Worldwide Rights (excl. Australia and New Zealand) to Antaine Furlong’s feature ‘Rising Wolf’. The film stars Charlotte Best (A Name Without A Place), Jonny Pasvolsky (The Front Runner), Alex Menglet (TV’s Wentworth), Susan Prior (The Rover), Lily Stewart, Justin Cotta,Tahlia Sturzaker (I am Mother), and …

The post Samuel Goldwyn Films Has Acquired The Rights To The Sci-fi Thriller ‘Rising Wolf’ (Aka ‘Ascendant’) appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Directed by Antaine Furlong, starring Charlotte Best, and set in the elevator of a high-rise, the sci-fi thriller Rising Wolf has been acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films:

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired Worldwide Rights (excl. Australia and New Zealand) to Antaine Furlong’s feature ‘Rising Wolf’. The film stars Charlotte Best (A Name Without A Place), Jonny Pasvolsky (The Front Runner), Alex Menglet (TV’s Wentworth), Susan Prior (The Rover), Lily Stewart, Justin Cotta,Tahlia Sturzaker (I am Mother), and introducing Karelina Clarke.

A young woman wakes, trapped, kidnapped in an elevator of a super high­ rise building at the mercy of her tormentors. This stylistic thriller, set in Shanghai, explores a young woman's instinct to survive in a situation out of her control. Trapped, without any form of escape, and cocooned in the belly of the beast, Aria is forced to adapt her thinking,...

Samuel Goldwyn Films has added to its growing list of Australian acquisitions, negotiating a deal for the worldwide rights to Antaine Furlong’s Ascendant.

Under the agreement, there will be a planned theatrical release of the film as Rising Wolf in the US on July 16.

Ascendant will be released in Australia and New Zealand this Thursday via Maslow Entertainment.

Set in Shanghai, the story follows Aria Wolf (Charlotte Best), a young woman who wakes, trapped, kidnapped in an elevator of a super high­ rise building at the mercy of her tormentors. Cocooned in the belly of the beast, Aria is forced to adapt her thinking, her beliefs, and her endurance.

The cast includes Jonny Pasvolsky (The Front Runner), Alex Menglet (Wentworth), Susan Prior (The Rover), Lily Stewart, Justin Cotta,Tahlia Sturzaker (I am Mother), and Karelina Clarke.

Ascendant was written by Kieron Holland and Furlong, who produced alongside Kristy Vernon,...

Condé Nast Entertainment (Cne) has tapped a new executive, Helen Estabrook, to head up development and production for features and scripted series.

The publisher’s video arm said the hire was indicative of its strategic shift to grow a film and TV business leveraging its portfolio of global brands and IP.

Prior to joining Cne, Estabrook worked at her own production company, A Thousand Ships, which previously operated a first-look deal at HBO. She was involved in the production of films and series including Up In The Air, Jeff, Who Lives at Home, Demolition, Young Adult, Tully, The Front Runner, Whiplash, Casual, and Mrs. Fletcher.

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Exclusive: Condé Nast Entertainment president Agnes Chu has tapped industry veteran Helen Estabrook as Head of Development & Production for Features and Scripted Series. The new role is part of Chu’s ongoing revamp of the organization, prioritizing a global entertainment strategy and growing a film and television business leveraging the company’s portfolio of global brands and IP.

“I am thrilled Helen chose Cne as her first in-house producing opportunity. Her award-winning track record and exceptional producing skills will be instrumental in defining Cne as a key home for talent-driven stories that unlock the power of our IP across the iconic brands of Conde Nast,” said Chu to whom Estabrook reports.

Estabrook will be Condé Nast Entertainment’s top programming executive. She will work alongside Teal Newland, SVP, Digital Video (English Language), and Ezzie Chidi-Ofong SVP, Digital Video (Local Language), who also report to Chu, along with Chief Content Operations Officer Christiane Mack,...

Amazon Prime Video enlisted company executives, series creators and stars from some of its top originals to confirm several announcements of new titles, returning favorites and broader initiatives to help Mexico’s hard-hit production industry recover from damage inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

One new production, an untitled soccer docuseries about Mexican supper-club Las Chivas, and two returning programs, “Pan y Circo” and “Lol: Last One Laughing,” were confirmed, with as many as 15 new Mexican original series and five feature films teased over the next three to five years.

Having found a formula for success in unscripted sports documentary content in several territories, Amazon Prime Video will look once again to the world of top tier soccer for a new docuseries that will follow one of Mexico’s most popular clubs, Club Deportivo Guadalajara, on and off the pitch.

Another unscripted treat, Diego Luna will return for his critically acclaimed...

Exclusive: Chris Coy, Julia McDermott and Carter Jenkins are set to co-star opposite Adrienne Warren in ABC’s limited series Women of the Movement, from creator-writer Marissa Jo Cerar and a producing team that includes Jay-Z, Will Smith and Aaron Kaplan.

The six-episode limited series, set to premiere in 2021, centers on Mamie Till-Mobley (Warren), who devoted her life to seeking justice for her son Emmett Till (Cedric Joe) following his brutal killing in the Jim Crow South.

McDermott, Jenkins and Coy will play Carolyn Bryant, her husband Roy Bryant, and his half-brother J. W. Milam, respectively, the Mississippi trio at the center of Emmett Till’s murder.

Tonya Pinkins and Glynn Turman also co-star.

Women of the Movement is inspired by the book Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement by Devery S. Anderson. Cerar serves as showrunner and executive produces with Jay-Z,...

It has begun. The steady trickle of films about Labradors who save Christmas, American girls marrying European princes, and parents learning that their kids are more important than their jobs, is with us. Netflix is responsible for a good proportion of the above, with several new festive titles arriving over the next few weeks.

If that does nothing for you, then you might be more interested in the arrival of three non-tinsel films on the service this month. There’s David Fincher’s Mank streaming from December 4th, followed on the 18th by Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, featuring the much-missed Chadwick Boseman, with George Clooney-starring The Midnight Sky landing a couple of days before Christmas on the 23rd.

TV-wise, there’s a new season of animated comedy Big Mouth on December 4th, the debut of slick-looking Shondaland period drama Bridgerton on the 25th, and right at the end of the month,...